Malwarebytes Antivirus Cost and Pricing Plans

Few things are more concerning than viruses attacking your devices, especially when you have no protection in place at all. That goes for all devices too. Even iPhones can get hacked. And Macs can benefit from third-party antivirus as well since their built-in antivirus is far from foolproof. Whether it’s your own phone or your company laptop, antivirus software can improve your online safety.

Meet Malwarebytes, antivirus software that has subscriptions for personal and business use. On this page, we broke down the pricing not only for its antivirus software but also for its VPN and secure browser. Is it worth it? Read on to find out.

Personal Subscription Costs

Most people are going to be, like us in our Malwarebytes review, using the antivirus service for personal reasons. We went with the Plus package because it gave us antivirus protection and an included VPN. On the five device plan, that’s a $60 value. Although there are standalone VPNs that easily beat Malwarebytes Privacy VPN pricing, so we think of it as more like a $50 value. Check out our guide to the best affordable VPNs for some alternatives in the $50 per year range like Surfshark.

The Plus plan let us choose between protection for three devices or five devices as well. But, if you only want protection for a single device, Malwarebytes can help you with that too.

For Windows, macOS, Android and Chrome

When you go to check out on Malwarebytes, they’ll offer you a 15% discount if you purchase a two-year plan instead of their standard one-year plans. While we think that’s pretty good, it’s up to you on how long you want to commit.

For iOS

Both the Standard and Plus plan from Malwarebytes includes iOS support. It used to be its own subscription that cost $1.49 a month or $11.99 a year. While we’re glad that the iOS app is now included in the Standard and Plus plan, the app still isn’t available in all countries. So, to use Malwarebytes on your iOS devices, you’ll need to live in:

• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Bahamas
• Barbados
• Bermuda
• The British Virgin Islands
• Canada
• Cayman Islands
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Jamaica
• Montserrat
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turks and Caicos
• The United States

We wish this app was available elsewhere outside of North and Central America, but hopefully, this will change in the future.

Business Subscription Costs

Malwarebytes also has options for businesses small and large. Small teams should go with the “For Teams” option, while larger teams of at least 10 will go with either Endpoint Protection or Endpoint Detection Response.

Is There A Free Trial?

You drive a car before you buy it, so the same should be true for your antivirus software…right? Right…sort of. Malwarebytes offers free trials for some of its antivirus apps; with Windows, you’ll get a 14-day trial, while iOS bumps that number up to 30. However, if you are using the service for Chrome, macOS or Android, there’s no free trial. Darn!

However, Malwarebytes does have more free trials on other services; for example, the VPN package offers a free trial for seven days, and you can also download their secure browser and anti-adware software for free.

Other Services by Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes has other products besides pure antivirus software, including a VPN, a secure browser and anti-adware software.

Malwarebytes Privacy VPN

If you want a VPN on its own, the cost is $59.99 a year, which breaks down to about $5 a month. That’s a decent price for a VPN, but it only covers five devices, unlike Surfshark VPN which covers an unlimited number of devices for as little as $2.49 a month. However, if you’re also looking for antivirus software, it makes sense to bundle with it the VPN, as Malwarebytes discounts its prices for each.

Malwarebytes Browser Guard

Another option for secure browsing is the Browser Guard, which is completely free for Chrome and Firefox. We’ve all gotten sick of the constant barrage of ads, tracking and scam websites online; if we have to see one more ad for a toilet paper holder we bought a month ago, we just might flip out, so the Browser Guard certainly comes in handy.

Malwarebytes AdwCleaner

Another free service is what Malwarebytes calls the AdwCleaner, which stands for adware cleaner. In a nutshell, the company says that it gets rid of junkware and any unwanted programs to create faster speeds. However, it only works on Windows 7, 8 or 10, so it won’t be an option for the nine percent of people who use Macs or the two percent of people who use Linux.1

Return Policy

We’ve all experienced buyer’s remorse, that creeping feeling you get when you click purchase on a kitchen tool you definitely won’t use, or when you’re walking out of a department store with party dresses you have no occasion to wear. But fortunately, that shouldn’t be the case with Malwarebytes as the company has a 60-day money-back guarantee on its Premium subscriptions, so long as you purchase them from their website directly and not an app store or third party. However, this only applies to personal subscriptions, so businesses may have trouble getting their money back.

To cancel your personal, Premium subscription of Malwarebytes, log into your account, click on Payments, then the pencil icon under Active Subscription and select turn off. One you’ve turned off auto-renewal, you’ll receive a confirmation email and you won’t be charged again.

Favorite Features

While we’re not going to get too deep in the weeds as to why we think that Malwarebytes is well with its prices, here are our main points.

Detected 98.9 Percent of Malware

The main feature of an antivirus software is to detect malware, and tests from AV Labs showed that Malwarebytes was outstanding in this capacity, detecting 98.9 percent of the latest malware from Androids as of July 2020. And when that testing was done in the month of July specifically, that number rose up to 99.4 percent, meaning that Malwarebytes is getting even stronger.

Solid Apps

Both of Malwarebytes’ mobile apps have high ratings, a 4.6 for both the Malwarebytes Security: Virus Cleaner, Anti-Malware app on the Google Play store as well as the Malwarebytes Mobile Security app for iOS. This meant that protecting our phones and tablets was a far from frustrating process.

Clean History

From aggressive sales tactics to major security vulnerabilities, we’ve seen our fair share of scandals when it comes to the companies behind antivirus software, but Malwarebytes was squeaky clean. They haven’t had any concerning security or privacy issues, which was a relief considering that they logged our IP addresses, names, emails, and more. Now, we’re not saying they’re immune to such issues, but given the fact that the company has been around since 2004, this is a pretty impressive track record.

Student Discount: How You Can Save

While it’s a bit hidden on their website, Malwarebytes does offer a student discount through Student Beans. In a nutshell, you can get four years of antivirus protection for $5, which is a whopping 95 percent off the Premium package for one device; this is by far the most generous student discount offer we’ve ever seen. The best part? It doesn’t cost anything to join Student Beans, so saving around $35 is completely free.

Summary

We appreciate Malwarebytes for its straightforward pricing and myriad of digital security services, and their prices are right where they should be, compared to their competitors. Read on to get the answers to the questions we get the most about Malwarebytes’ antivirus software.